Where has summer gone?

Written By: erica
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Sunday•August•04•2013

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve written. Life continues at the little homestead. We’re still waiting adoptive parents and we know it will all happen in due time. At the moment, we’re anxious for the first big tomato to ripen. We’ve had three grape tomatoes which very much on the heavenly side.

About five months ago I started a new job as the youth collection development librarian at the big Kansas City Library in downtown KC. I’ve never had a job that I’ve enjoyed so much and enjoy nearly every day that I’m there (everyone has a so-so day once in a while,right?). My job involves selecting materials for children and teens for the 10 libraries that are part off the Kansas City Public Library system, along with materials for the Library’s Outreach department that serves thousands of children at day cares and preschools in Kansas City, as well as, managing the children’s and teen collections within the system. Every day I learn something new and every day brings a new challenge.

The last few months, I’ve spent a lot of time reading. I figure I need to enjoy our possibly waning days as just a couple and get as much reading done as I can while I have the time.

I’ve been doing a lot of sewing, in January, I finished the sock monkey quilt (Jungle Path quilt pattern) for our own future little monkey. Bianca cuddled with it for about a week before I washed it the first time. I wanted her to be able to imprint her scent on it. It may be time to get the quilt out again for her to snuggle with so it has plenty of kitty scents on it.

Front of Sock Monkey Quilt

Back of the sock monkey quilt

Detail of quilt block

Detail of Sock Monkey quilt

Detail of the back of the Sock Monkey Quilt

In February and March, I made my first quilt-as-you-go baby quilt. It was quick and fun, so rewarding, and I used some of my odd scraps. Of course, I had to buy some new fabric, what quilt doesn’t require some new fabric? I thought I would finish it quicker than I finished the sock monkey quilt but I think I finished the sock monkey quilt in record time.

I’ve also spent the spring sewing other baby things, such as burp cloths, in preparation of the possibility of a baby joining our family in the near future.

Burp cloths

When I was looking for scraps for the strip quilt, I found a bag of left-overs from the Wee Woodland quilt I made for a friend’s daughter last fall. I had several whirlygigs sewn and other pieces cut, so I decided to make a table runner for our dining room table. It’s a bit fall-ish but it’s on our table and is an incentive to keep the newspapers cleaned up on the table.

Wee Woodland table runner made from scraps of the Wee Woodland quilt from November 2012

I hope the sewing fever continues as I have three quilts in various stages. Two are just in the planning phases with no fabric cut. The third is in the block-making phase and it’s definitely the most time-consuming quilt I’ve ever made. It’s turning our beautifully and I really love the way the batik fabrics look in the blocks. I have just a sample because I don’t want to show off too much before it is gifted.